I just want to be 100% positive of something before I potentially kill some expensive components. If I have a 7.2 Volt external power supply connected to the input jack on the arduino board. Am I ok to use BOTH the 5v pin and the Vin pin without damaging the board/components? The reason being is I have a GPS unit that will only operate between 5-5.5 volts and another component that works best around the 7v mark. I'm 90% sure the answer is yes but I would like to get confirmation for piece of mind >_< (sorry for the silly question).

I just want to be 100% positive of something before I potentially kill some expensive components. If I have a 7.2 Volt external power supply connected to the input jack on the arduino board. Am I ok to use BOTH the 5v pin and the Vin pin without damaging the board/components? The reason being is I have a GPS unit that will only operate between 5-5.5 volts and another component that works best around the 7v mark. I'm 90% sure the answer is yes but I would like to get confirmation for piece of mind >_< (sorry for the silly question).

Nick

Yes you can use both the Vin voltage and the +5vdc voltage to power external devices from the Arduino board. However keep in mind that both those voltage sources have current limits that you can't exceed. Also if you ever power your board with just the USB connection, then there will be no Vin voltage to provide power to external devices. However it is fine to have a board being powered by both the USB port and the external power connector of the arduino board as the auto-voltage source will select the external power to generate the on board +5vdc.

Thanks for the reply, I'm sorry but my explanations are terrible (I'm working on it ). I was trying to say that, as a completely standalone device (no USB power) could my external supply power both pins, ie give me a 5v pin to use and a 7.2volt pin concurrently?

Thanks for the reply, I'm sorry but my explanations are terrible (I'm working on it ). I was trying to say that, as a completely standalone device (no USB power) could my external supply power both pins, ie give me a 5v pin to use and a 7.2volt pin concurrently?

Nick

And I'll repeat:

Quote

Yes you can use both the Vin voltage and the +5vdc voltage to power external devices from the Arduino board. However keep in mind that both those voltage sources have current limits that you can't exceed.

When using the external power connector, the voltage it provides is also avalible at the Vin pin (which will be the same voltage as the external applied voltage) for use to power external devices. The +5vdc pin is also avalible to power external devices. Again both voltage sources do have maximum current capacity that you can't exceed.Lefty